SOO_ Profile Creation Support.doc

Statement of Objectives (SOO)

Profile Creation Support for Cloud-based Accessibility

DRAFT

April 23, 2012

PURPOSE. The outcome of the procurement will be a contract to begin ##, for the design and implementation of Web software to assist users with disabilities in creating online user profiles that specify their needs and preferences for how online information and services should be presented to them.

1 Overview

New technology to improve access to content and services for people with disabilities will use online user profiles to automatically configure the provision of information and applications to meet individual needs. International efforts in this area include the Global Public Inclusive Infrastructure initiative (GPII.org), the European Commission CLOUD4all project (http://gpii.net/cloud4all), the AccessForAll schema (see Personal Needs and Preferences in ISO FDIS 24751), the Fluid FLOE project for inclusive delivery of open educational resources (floeproject.org), and APIP (Accessible Portable Item Protocol; apipstandard.org) for accommodating student needs in educational assessment.

The user profiles in these applications must allow a wide range of needs and preferences for accommodation to be specified. But some of the needed information is technical, in the sense that users will not necessarily know what specifications will provide best support for them. For example, some users can read better when text is presented in colors that aren’t commonly used, but such a user may not know what colors will work best for them. Software tools are therefore needed to help users, and people who support them, choose the best values for specifications in their user profiles.

The techniques to be used in supporting users may vary from one area of the profile to another. In some cases asking users to choose among alternative presentations may be effective. In other areas it may be possible to infer appropriate specifications from a sample of user activity. For example, tools have been developed that infer keyboard accessibility settings from measurements of user keyboarding behavior.

The coverage of various aspects of user needs and preferences in user profiles will evolve over time. This is true in part because coordination among the various international efforts that use user profiles can be expected to develop as the projects mature. An additional dynamic is that as new forms of assistive technology and other accommodations for users with disabilities are developed, there will be a need to specify new information in user profiles. It is very important, therefore, that the tools provided to assist in the creation of user profiles be designed and implemented in such a way as to make it as easy as possible for them to be adapted and extended as requirements change in the future.

Wide use of the profile creation aids will depend on the use of a widely available platform: the World Wide Web. Web-based tools do not require users to install software, crucial for people who use public or shared computers, and they can easily be made available to a very wide range of users. Where technical requirements for some valuable aids are incompatible with Web delivery, these requirements should be identified and understood.

2 OVERALL Objectives

One. Provide an organized knowledge base on proposed user profile systems for people with disabilities, including expert judgment on how best to assist users in specifying the appropriate aspects of these profiles.

Two. Provide a software tool or system of tools that supports creation of user profiles for people with disabilities, operable as a Web application or system of applications that reflects expert judgment, and supports continuing evolution of the content of user profiles and of the means of assistance provided to users.

3 SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES

3.1 Objective One

3.1.1 Gather and disseminate knowledge of proposed user profile systems for users with disabilities

A useful tool to assist users must support the creation of profile specifications appropriate for use in projects that are using or planning to use user profiles to support users with disabilities. Development must therefore include a survey of such projects that can be used to guide the creation of useful tools. This survey must include technical descriptions, where appropriate, adequate to define how the output of a user assistance tool can be meshed with these projects. The survey must be made available to the public, as an aid to coordinating projects that use or plan to use user profiles to support users with disabilities, as well as future projects that may develop additional user assistance tools.

3.1.2 Summarize expert judgment on how to assist users in creating profiles

Different technical approaches may be required to support users in creating different aspects of their profiles. The approaches chosen must reflect the best judgment of experts on disability and technology. This information will be of value not only within this project, but within possible future projects of this kind.

3.2 Objective Two

3.2.1 Support for creation of user profiles

The software tool or system of tools must be usable by people with disabilities, in some cases with support from others, to create profiles that effectively capture their needs and preferences for information presentation and interaction, in a manner supportive of the proposed user profile systems reviewed for Objective 2.1.1.

3.2.1.1 Support for a range of functional needs

The tool should support as wide a range of users, and their functional needs, as is technically feasible. This applies not only to the content of the profile specifications to be supported, but also to the accessibility and operability of the tool itself.

3.2.1.2 Relationship to expert judgment

The modes of user support offered by the tool should reflect the expert judgments determined in Objective 2.1.2.

3.2.1.3 Support for evolution and adaptation.

As discussed earlier, the content of user profiles, and the available means whereby users can be supported in creating them, will certainly change over time. Accordingly it is very important that the software developed in this project be structured so as to make it as easy as possible to add support for new profile contents in the future, or to change the way in which users are supported in creating particular profile specifications. This flexibility should also support adapting the software to support differences that may be found among different profile systems, to the extent feasible.

The software should also support changes in styling and appearance, and combinability with other Web software, as may be needed in adapting it for use with other Web software, to the extent feasible.

3.2.2 Operability as Web application

To maximize the range of situations in which the software can be used, the software should be developed as a Web application or system of applications. Further, the reliance on server operations should be minimized, to reduce the requirements for deployment of the software, to the extent technically feasible.

Recognizing that there are differences in the support provided by different Web browsers, the software should use appropriate techniques to minimize browser dependencies.

Should any useful technical supports be identified under Objective 2.1.2 that cannot be feasibly be developed in a Web application, these requirements should be identified.

3.2.3 Unrestricted use and adaptation

The software should be available for public use and adaptation, and not subject to licensing or other requirements that would limit that use and adaptation.